Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [174]
Pushing through the group came two winded and wounded human commandos, who saluted Captain Page.
“Bacta Squad, sir,” the sergeant said. “We’ve just come from down below. It’s a real mess, Captain. The heretics are fighting tooth and claw, but they need reinforcements—and fast. If you can spare anyone, sir …”
Page beckoned to one of his jet-packed commandos. “Congratulations, Corporal, you’ve been promoted to squad leader. Take ten men and go with the sergeant. We’ll regroup at the Citadel, soonest.”
The commando saluted, spun on his heel, and began choosing his teammates.
The wounded sergeant looked from Page to Luke. “Master Skywalker, a couple of your people would make a world of difference, not only to us—” He motioned to the Shamed Ones. “—but to them, as well.”
Kenth and Tahiri glanced at Luke, who nodded.
“Thank you,” the sergeant said as the two Jedi moved to join him. “We’ve heard that the Prophet has reappeared, but we haven’t been able to locate him. Word has it he was last seen in the Place of Hierarchy.”
“Leading them, or helping with the slaughter?” Mara asked, stepping forward.
“Leading them.”
Luke showed Mara a skeptical look. “Maybe he’s had a change of heart since Zonama Sekot.”
She snorted in derision. “Only if someone implanted a new one in his chest.”
Luke swung to the Shamed Ones who had been the first to show themselves. “Have you or any of the others even been inside the Citadel?”
Tahiri translated.
A male in the crowd spoke, and showed himself. He was more hideously scarred than the others, and short horns sprouted from the tops of his shoulders.
“This one says that he arrived in the Citadel,” Tahiri told Luke. She listened for a moment more. “He was a warrior before the gods—before his body rejected certain enhancing biots the shapers devised for him.” The former warrior pointed to the walkways that accessed the yorik coral mountain. “Each caste uses a separate entrance. But all four avenues terminate at the Hall of Confluence, where Supreme Overlord Shimrra grants audience to the elite.”
“Ask him if Shimrra is likely to be in the hall now,” Luke said.
Tahiri phrased the question and waited for the response.
“He says that you won’t find Shimrra there. He’ll be in his private … coffer.” The Yuuzhan Vong aimed a thick, truncated finger at the lofty crown of the Citadel. “Up there is where you’ll have to go.”
“Thank you,” Luke said to the heretic, who asked something of Tahiri.
“He has a question for the Jedi,” she said after a moment. “He wants to know if we plan to help them or kill them. He wants to know if the Shamed Ones will be able to find salvation in the Force.”
Luke looked at the Yuuzhan Vong. “We’ll help you find your way back to the Force.”
Tahiri’s translation prompted agitation and a flurry of hushed conversations among the Shamed Ones. Then she and Kenth began to move off with the commandos.
Mara shifted her gaze from the Citadel to Luke.
“Ready, soldier?” When he didn’t respond immediately, she said, “What’s wrong?”
He held her gaze. “Mara, I want you to go with Tahiri and Kenth.”
She almost laughed.
“I want you to go with them,” he said again.
Her expression changed, and a twinge of fear came into her eyes. “Luke, tell me this is the Force speaking to you, and that you’re not doing it because you don’t want us fighting together—for Ben’s sake.”
“Would it matter?”
She gripped her hands on his upper arms. “You promised me on Zonama Sekot that both of us have a lot more living to do.”
He smiled and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingertips. “You think I’d drop you into the midst of all this to make you a widow—or me a widower?”
She shook her head. “That’s not your style.”
“Then go with them.”
Reluctantly, she nodded. “Not because I want to. But because I trust you.”
Airborne at the extreme edge of the tempest that was lashing the northern quarter of the sacred precinct, the Falcon banked toward